The Zombies - "Next Steps"

 

Odessey and Oracle, the final album by The Zombies’ original lineup, was recorded in the summer of 1967, and released in the UK in the spring of 1968. Neither the initial single nor the album did much in the UK, and the album wasn’t initially released in the U.S. at all. Al Kooper became the album’s champion and eventually convinced CBS to release the album in the U.S. A single, “Time of the Season,” had flopped in the UK in the spring of ’68, but after being released in early 1969 in the U.S., it became a huge hit.

Suddenly, The Zombies were again a popular band, something they really hadn’t been since 1964. CBS wanted another album, but the group had already disbanded. Using six tracks recorded by bandmembers Rod Argent and Chris White’s new group Argent, as well as newly overdubbed Zombies demos from previous years, the album R.I.P. was assembled. But two singles, “Imagine the Swan” and “If It Don’t Work Out,” didn’t sell well, and the album was shelved. It was eventually released 30 years later in 2000.

But if R.I.P. had been released and proved successful, I was curious about whether yet another “Zombies” album could be created.

SIDE A

1. I Hope I Didn’t Say Too Much Last Night

2. Unhappy Girl

3. I Can’t Live Without You

4. Though You Are Far Away

5. Telescope (Mr. Galileo)

SIDE B

1. It Never Fails to Please Me

2. Her Song

3. Let Me Come Closer to You

4. To Julia (for When She Smiles)

5. Caroline Goodbye

With The Zombies’ popularity increasing in the 1990s and 2000s, several new compilations were issued, including Greatest Hits (1990), the boxset Zombie Heaven (1997) and R.I.P (2000). In 2007, an album titled Into the Afterlife was released that included several demos recorded by Argent and White (as well as several cover songs recorded by lead vocalist Colin Blunstone under the alias Neil MacArthur).

I took the unused Argent and White songs from Into the Afterlife and combined them with songs Blunstone wrote for his debut solo album One Year, which was produced by both Argent and White in 1971. I also included the B-side of a Blunstone single, “I Hope I Didn’t Say Too Much Last Night,” which I ended up using to open the album. The overall result, I think, is a very Zombies-sounding album.

I thought Next Steps was a good title and then went about searching for a photo that I thought captured the feeling of the album.

Here's a YouTube playlist to determine for yourself.

"Catch .44" soundtrack

This is a really short and quick entry. I have friends in the band Deadbolt, and one of their songs is played in the 2011 Forest Whitaker/Bruce Willis movie "Catch .44." The film was a box office bomb, although it’s a fairly entertaining crime flick.

No soundtrack album was released for the movie, but the featured songs are a real grabbag of genres and times. From the spaghetti western “Ride ‘Em,” glam rock from David Bowie and Sweet, rap en español by Vakero, plus country, alt-rock, psychobilly, gospel, etc. Even a track by Willis. Think of it as a crazy mix tape.

1. Ride ‘Em – Ben Zarai

2. Fox on the Run – Sweet

3. Choose Me – The Debonettes

4. Queen Bitch – David Bowie

5. Between Midnight and Day – Corey Harris

6. I’ll be All Smiles Tonight – Mac Wiseman

7. Dead Sound – The Raveonettes

8. Respect Yourself – Bruce Willis

9. Sweet Rock and Roll – Vibrolux

10. Se Partio de Lapiz – Vakero

11. Zulu Death Mask – Deadbolt

12. Silver Piano Man – Cotton Jones

13. Believer – Viva Voce

14. Fair and Tender Ladies – The Osborne Brothers

15. Running Bear – Johnny Preston

16. U R A Fever – The Kills

17. Hot Ashes – Jordan Klassen

18. Living, Forgiving – Paul Burch

I’m not going to go through all the sources, but suffice it to say you probably won’t find two songs on any one album. Let Amazon, iTunes, etc. be your friend. 

For a cover, I simply took the movie poster and cropped and edited it.

David Bowie - "The Gouster"

 

When Parlophone released the David Bowie boxset Who Can It Be Now? (1974-1976), which included the long-lost / long-rumored The Gouster album, many people were surprised at the track listing. Primarily, it was missing several songs that some people had expected to be included, especially what would have been the title song, “I am a Lazer (The Gouster).” But producer Tony Visconti who assembled the “new” album insisted that this was the intended track list.

I have no proof whatsoever of this, but my theory is that the track listing is actually for an early version of the album that became Young Americans after The Gouster name and title cut had been dropped.

So, if this original configuration had been released as Young Americans, there would have been plenty of tracks left for a quick follow-up album, which I’m calling The Gouster.

SIDE A

1. I am Divine

2. Win

3. Shilling the Rubes

4. I am a Lazer (The Gouster)

SIDE B

1. After Today

2. Across the Universe

3. Fascination

4. Fame

From the actual released version of Young Americans, we have four songs to include here: “Win,” “Across the Universe,” “Fascination” and “Fame.” Thanks to better music editing software, old demos from this time period are showing up on bootlegs and YouTube. These include “I am Divine,” “Shilling the Rubes,” “After Today” and the previously mentioned “I am a Lazer (The Gouster).”

The album opens with the rockin’ “I am Divine” and closes with the monster hit “Fame.” Both “I am Divine” and “I am a Lazer” were destined also (along with other Bowie-penned songs) for the debut album of The Astronettes (Bowie’s backup singers), which was recorded around the same time, but was shelved and didn’t get released until 2009. But I definitely think Bowie originally planned to release these songs himself. My reasoning for that is that the recording Bowie made of “I am Divine” includes the Astronettes on backup with Bowie singing lead, and “I am a Lazer” is also a full band workout, although without the backup singers. So, why go to all that trouble if it was simply meant as a demo to give to the group?

Here's a Playlist on YouTube.

Now, if you want to go the extra mile and create a double album with all the tracks from this period, you could simply take the boxset’s The Gouster and add the version above to create this:

SIDE A

1. John, I’m Only Dancing (Again)

2. Somebody Up There Likes Me

3. It’s Gonna be Me

SIDE B

1. Who Can I be Now?

2. Can You Hear Me?

3. Young Americans

4. Right

SIDE C

1. I am Divine

2. Win

3. Shilling the Rubes

4. I am a Lazer (The Gouster)

SIDE B

1. After Today

2. Across the Universe

3. Fascination

4. Fame

Mudcrutch - s/t

 

Before there was Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, there was Mudcrutch, which was formed in 1970 in Gainesville, Fla. With several lineup changes, the band eventually broke up in 1975, but not before recording several songs along the way. 

I wanted to combine the Mudcrutch tracks into one imagined album that theoretically could have been released in the mid-1970s.

SIDE A

1. Don't Do Me Like That

2. Up in Mississippi

3. Cause is Understood

4. Lost in Your Eyes

5. Depot Street

SIDE B

1. I Can't Fight It

2. Wild Eyes

3. Cry to Me

4. On the Street

5. Long Way from Home

I resisted working on this project for several years due to two main reasons: 1. I didn't feel there were enough quality-sounding songs for a full album, and 2. While I pondered the idea, Uncle Dan presented a version on his "What If" blog. But after a long-lost Mudcrutch song showed up on a 2018 Tom Petty compilation, I pondered it once more.

Officially, Mudcrutch released two singles "Up the Mississippi" / "Cause is Understood" (1971) and "Depot Street" / "Wild Eyes" (1975). When the second single flopped, the group disbanded and three members, Tom Petty, Mike Campbell and Belmont Trench, formed Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers with others. 

While there are apparently a number of Mudcrutch tracks (including demos) floating around, I focused on 10 specific Mudcrutch songs. I included all four tracks from the two singles. "Don't Do Me Like That" seemed the obvious opening track since it was the only carry-over to the Heartbreakers. I also felt that "I Can't Fight It" was one of the strongest tracks and used that to open the second side. Additionally, I made sure to put "Lost in Your Eyes" and "Depot Street" on the opposite side of the album from "Wild Eyes" and "On the Street" to avoid repetition.

Unfortunately, the sound quality for these 10 tracks is not uniformly good. Those that have been officially released in the digital era sound good, while the others are simply OK. Six of the tracks appeared on the Tom Petty compilation box set Playback. One track, "Lost in Your Eyes" appeared on the Tom Petty compilation box set An American Treasure. That left three difficult-to-find tracks that are also the ones with the poorest sound quality. They include the B-sides "Wild Eyes" and "Cause is Understood" (only available on the original vinyl singles and some bootlegs) and a demo titled "Long Way from Home" that's available on bootlegs.

All in all, I think it's interesting to listen to what could have been.

I struggled with ideas for a cover. There are a few group photos online, but because the lineups changed over the lifetime of the band and not all tracks are by the same lineup, I decided to go with something different. The band was originally from Gainesville so I looked up the city on Wikipedia for some inspiration. I discovered that the town was named after Gen. Edmund P. Gaines. So I found an old photo of him online, colorized and cropped it, and added the band's logo (even though the logo was created for the band after it was reformed in 2007). Personally, I like the way it came out.

Here's a playlist of the album on YouTube.

Triple Albums Made Single

Way back in the olden days of December 2018, I posted an entry on this blog where I took eight double studio albums and slimmed them down to a single disc.

This time around, I’m tackling four triple studio albums and slimming them down, not to a double, but also to a single disc. That’s a lot of whittling. You can be the judge of the outcomes.

 

Green Day – “¡Uno! ¡Dos! ¡Tré!”

Besides listening to all the tracks, I went in search of consensus among others as to what are the best songs from the three discs. And believe me, the more you search the topic online the more you realize that no one agrees on everything. But it did appear that a few songs showed up on most lists I found and helped me narrow it down. Two of the original discs have 12 tracks and one has 13, so I decided to keep it at no more than 13.

1.       Nuclear Family

2.       Brutal Love

3.       Stay the Night

4.       Stop When the Red Lights Flash

5.       Let Yourself Go

6.       X-Kid

7.       Stray Heart

8.       Troublemaker

9.       Dirty Rotten Bastards

10.   99 Revolutions

11.   The Forgotten

12.   Oh Love

13.   Amy

 

Smashing Pumpkins – “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness”

Most people probably think of this as a two-CD, 28-track album, but it was also released as a three-disc, 30-track vinyl album. With 30 tracks to choose from, it’s a lot to wade through. And consider the fact that another 30 or so songs didn’t make the final cut of the actual album (they were included later in a box set). So, to get this down to a single vinyl album, I decided to only use 10 tracks in total. And if you check various “best of” lists on the interwebs you’ll find that four tracks make nearly everyone’s list, and then it's kind of a free-for-all.

SIDE A

1.       Tonight Tonight

2.       Jellybelly

3.       Zero

4.       Bullet with Butterfly Wings

5.       Galapogos

SIDE B

1.       Muzzle

2.       Thirty-Three

3.       1979

4.       Thru the Eyes of Ruby

5.       Stumbleine

 

The Clash – “Sandanista!”

Some songs from Sandanista were obvious keepers, and some tracks seemed to me like just filler. When it came to determining the final cuts, I again went to the interwebs for various opinions on the best/worst tracks. Finally, I settled on what’s below. It was only after I completed this that I discovered a 12-track promo album called Sandanista Now! had been released (I assume to radio stations), and it only differs from my tracklist by two songs: I included "Something About England" and "Charlie Don't Surf" while Sandanista Now! excludes those songs but includes instead "Ivan Meets G.I. Joe" and "Sound of Sinners." 

SIDE A

1.       The Magnificent Seven

2.       Hitsville UK

3.       Junco Partner

4.       The Leader

5.       Something About England

6.       Somebody Got Murdered

SIDE B

1.       One More Time

2.       Up in Heaven (Not Only Here)

3.       Police on My Back

4.       The Call Up

5.       Washington Bullets

6.       Charlie Don’t Surf

 

George Harrison – “All Things Must Pass”

For this album, the obvious choice for me was to first remove the third disc of jams. And then I assembled what I thought were the best nine tracks. The first side ended up being exactly the same as the released album, and the second side was a mix of the rest. The leftovers would have been a great start on a 1971 or 1972 follow-up album.

SIDE A

1.       I’d Have You Anytime

2.       My Sweet Lord

3.       Wah-Wah

4.       Isn’t It a Pity (v. 1)

SIDE B

1.       What is Life

2.       Run of the Mill

3.       Beware of Darkness

4.       The Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)

5.       All Things Must Pass

 

Elvis Presley - "Fire"

This is probably one of my more frivolous exercises on this blog (and that's saying something) – determining a track list for an album that Elvis Presley might have released if he hadn’t died in 1977.

In January 1977, a recording session was scheduled in Nashville, but Elvis either didn’t show up or left soon after arriving and didn’t record any tracks. This left producer Felton Jarvis to scramble and forage for enough songs to fill out an LP. The result was Moody Blue. A few months ago, I made an attempt to do a better version of that album.

For this blog post, I looked at the six to seven tracks that had been expected to be recorded, and other songs that could have completed a follow-up to Moody Blue, which I'm titling Fire.

SIDE A

1. Fire Down Below

2. That’s What You Do to Me

3. Whatever’s Left

4. Let Me On

5. By Day By Day

SIDE B

1. Energy

2. Rainy Night in Georgia

3. Mustang Wine

4. Who’s Loving You

5. Miss Misunderstood

In 2007, a CD called A Cold Night in Nashville was released with six of the demo tracks that were expected to be rerecorded by Elvis. The songs included:

      ·   “Rainy Night in Georgia” – written by Tony Joe White and a big hit for Brook Benton in 1970.

      ·   “Energy” – written by Bob Morrison and recorded by Tommy Roe in 1976.

      ·   “By Day By Day” written and recorded by Dennis Linde in 1977, and a big hit for Tanya Tucker in 1979.

      ·   “Let Me On” – written by Layng Martine Jr. and recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis in 1980.

      ·   “That’s What You Do to Me” – written by Bob Morrison and a big hit by Charly McClain in 1978.

      ·   “Yes I Do” – written by Alan Rush, and if this has been recorded by anyone other than Rush for the demo, I haven’t found it.

Another song that was considered, but is not on the CD, was “Fire Down Below,” written by Elvis’ longtime bass player Jerry Scheff. Elvis’ TCB Band even recorded the backing track. Also, I’ve read on music blogs that “Miss Misunderstood,” written by David Bellamy and recorded by the Bellamy Brothers in 1979 was seriously considered.

A Cold Night in Nashville is apparently out of print, and copies go for more than I want to spend. I couldn’t find it as a download online, so without the track “Yes I Do,” I needed three more songs to create a 10-track album (almost all Elvis studio albums in the '70s had 10 tracks).

There’s a lot of speculation regarding what other songs Elvis might have considered, including tunes by Dolly Parton, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, and even Bruce Springsteen. It’s all speculation, of course. Even if a song was on a list, it doesn’t mean Elvis would have recorded it. He had a long history of passing on tunes submitted to him.

A contribution from Mark James seems suspiciously absent from the list. James wrote Elvis’ hits “Suspicious Minds,” “Always on My Mind” “Raised on Rock” and “Moody Blue.” According to one account, a song James co-wrote titled “Disco Rider” was considered. But somehow I have difficulty believing Elvis would have recorded such a song (even if disco was king at the time). However, in 1978, James recorded a ballad he wrote titled “Who’s Loving You” and this seems much more up Elvis’ alley.

Another songwriter who regularly wrote tunes for Elvis was Jerry Chesnut. Two of his songs appeared on the 1976 album From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee. So, one of Chesnut’s songs would seem a likely candidate. His song “Whatever’s Left” was recorded by Faron Young in 1972 and Hank Thompson in 1974. It’s a country tune in waltz time and seems like something Elvis might have liked.

Finally, there is evidence that the song “Mustang Wine” written by a very young Steve Earle might have been in serious contention. In fact, it was included on Carl Perkins’ 1982 album Presenting Carl Perkins and produced by none other than Felton Jarvis. However, Elvis, a noted teetotaler, tended to shy away from songs about alcohol. While doing a search, I found that the only song Elvis recorded that mentioned alcohol (at least that I could find) was “Early Morning Rain,” so I don’t know if he would have recorded it. But in the end, I included it as well.

I've linked the songs above to other artists' performances of the songs so you can get a basic idea of how the album would have sounded. 

For a cover, I tried to create something that looked similar to past Elvis album covers and would look like it came out in 1978. Not really happy with it, but I got tired of fooling around in Photoshop and went with what I had.

The Beatles - "Yellow Submarine" complete soundtrack

 

It’s strange to me that two attempts were made to make a soundtrack for The Beatles' animated film “Yellow Submarine,” and yet neither version contains a complete tracklist.

The original soundtrack released in 1969 included six Beatles songs along with seven tracks by the George Martin Orchestra.

In 1999, a new version titled Yellow Submarine Songtrack was released. It included all but one of the Beatles songs that appear in the film, but none of the George Martin Orchestra music.

So, I have taken everything that I could find that I think should make up the “complete” soundtrack, and compiled what could have been issued as a double album.

SIDE A

1.       Pepperland

2.       March of the Meanies

3.       Yellow Submarine

4.       A Beginning

5.       Eleanor Rigby

6.       Love You To

SIDE B

1.       A Day in the Life

2.       All Together Now

3.       Sea of Time

4.       When I’m Sixty-Four

5.       Only a Northern Song

6.       Sea of Monsters

SIDE C

1.       Nowhere Man

2.       Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

3.       Sea of Holes

4.       Yellow Submarine in Pepperland

5.       Think for Yourself

6.       Pepperland Laid to Waste

SIDE D

1.       Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

2.       With a Little Help from My Friends

3.       All You Need is Love

4.       Baby You’re a Rich Man

5.       Hey Bulldog

6.       It’s All Too Much [long version]

Using what I think are the best sources, I compiled 24 tracks that include both Beatles songs and George Martin instrumentals into one complete album and put them in the order they appear in the film. I sourced all The Beatles songs (except “A Day in the Life” and “It’s All Too Much”) from Yellow Submarine Songtrack. For the George Martin Orchestra tracks (except “A Beginning”), I used the 2009 remastered version of the original soundtrack album.

Finally, I took “A Day in the Life” from the 50^th anniversary remastered Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album and “A Beginning” from Anthology 3. I also used the extended 8:13 version of “It’s All Too Much,” which is so far only available on bootlegs.

In some cases, the film only includes excerpts of certain songs, but I chose to include the full versions here.

I particularly liked how the four album sides began and ended naturally with their six equal tracks. While searching online, I found this interesting alternate cover on Pinterest posted by petdevaney.

Sources:

• A1, A2, B3, B6, C3, C4, C6 – Yellow Submarine (soundtrack), 2009
• A3, A5, A6, B2, B4, B5, C1, C2, C5, D1, D2, D3, D4, D5 – Yellow Submarine Songtrack, 1999
• B1 – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band: 50^th Anniversary Edition, 2017
• A4 – Anthology 3, 1996
• D6 – bootleg from YouTube

And here's a YouTube playlist of the album.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Mardi Gras" [reimagined]

 

Released in 1972, Mardi Gras was Creedence Clearwater Revival's last album. Most consider it the group's worst album and Rolling Stone Magazine called it the worst album by a rock band ever. 

The project was mired in discontent, with Tom Fogerty leaving beforehand and John Fogerty only making a half-hearted effort. The rhythm section of Stu Cook and Doug Clifford – never considered songwriters before – were forced to pick up the slack. Tom, Stu and Doug felt that John was too controlling and unwilling to listen to their ideas, and John was angry that they didn’t seem to appreciate that their success was mostly due to him.

But what if cooler heads had prevailed? What if instead of Tom leaving the band, everyone took a year off to do their own thing? Tom could release his two solo albums of 1972 (Tom Fogerty and Excalibur), and John and Doug issued one apiece the same year (Blue Ridge Rangers and Cosmo, respectively). Then, they could reconvene for one last CCR album that was still dominated by John but also more of a group effort.

SIDE A

1. Sweet Hitchhiker

2. Lookin’ for a Reason

3. Mystic Isle Avalon

4. What Are You Gonna Do

5. Back in the Hills

SIDE B

1. Joyful Resurrection

2. Hello Mary Lou

3. Door to Door

4. You Don’t Owe Me

5. Someday Never Comes

To revamp Mardi Gras, it was first important to remove the worst songs, which I believe were “Sail Away,” “Take It Like a Friend,” “Tearin’ Up the Country” and “Need Someone to Hold.” Not coincidentally, these are all songs by either Stu or Doug. I kept one song by each, “What Are You Gonna Do” and “Door to Door.” In the end, I kept only six of the album's 10 tracks.

In 1973, John released a single credited to the Blue Ridge Rangers. But unlike the album under that name that was made up of all covers, both sides of the single were written by John: “You Don’t Owe Me” and “Back in the Hills.” So, I included both songs.

Also, that year, Tom recorded a song titled “Mystic Isle Avalon” that actually includes all four members of CCR – in essence, the last CCR-recorded song. The track appeared on Tom’s Zephyr National album, which has Stu and Doug on every track. I also took “Joyful Resurrection” – the same album’s single – to include on the revised Mardi Gras.

Finally, I arranged the tracks in a way that I thought worked best. “Lookin’ for a Reason” was a terrible opening track for the album in my opinion, and instead I opened it with the best track on the album, the barn-burnin' “Sweet Hitchhiker.” "Lookin' for a Reason" is moved to the second track, followed by Tom's "Mystic Isle Avalon" and Doug's "What Are We Gonna Do." The first side ends with John's Blue Ridge Rangers track "Back in the Hills."

Tom’s song “Joyful Resurrection” opens the second side, followed by the cover of "Hello Mary Lou" and Stu's "Door to Door." The album closes with John’s “Someday Never Comes,” which seems appropriate.

Overall, while I still don't think this would have been the best CCR album, I do believe it’s a considerable improvement over what was released. I kept the original cover.

Here's a YouTube playlist of the album.

T. Rex - "Billy Super Duper"

 

At the time of his death in 1977, Marc Bolan was working on several new songs. But there’s no way of knowing whether any of them would have ended up on his next T. Rex album. He apparently left behind no notes, although there are references to the working title of Jack Daniels.

Over the years, there have been attempts, both official and unofficial (see Uncle Dan’s version), to create an album from leftover tracks. The primary version was a 1982 release titled Billy Super Duper that included seven songs recorded in 1977, one from 1976, two from 1975 and one from way back in 1972, and some of the tracks featured new overdubs to make them more fleshed-out tunes. Beyond that, there have been gobs of posthumously released albums with demos, alternate takes and pretty much every note Bolan ever recorded. The truth is, Bolin recorded so many demos between 1975-77, there’s no telling what he might have released had he lived longer.

SIDE A

1. 21^st Century Stance

2. Billy Super Duper

3. Shy Boy

4. Mellow Love

5. Endless Sleep

6. Brain Police

7. Write Me a Song

 

SIDE B

1. 20^th Century Baby

2. Hot George

3. Foxy Boy

4. Love Drunk

5. Depth Charge

6. Messing with the Mystic

7. Sing Me a Song

Looking over some of the last songs he recorded, I was struck by how several titles were similar and wondered if I couldn’t arrange a track list that created a concept album with the two sides of the album kind of mirroring each other. Bolan had attempted to create a concept album in 1975 titled Billy Super Duper, but apparently discarded the concept because his last two albums in 1976 and 1977 didn’t include any reference to it.

For this, I took 10 of the 12 songs featured on the 1982 Billy Super Duper release. It appears that at least seven of them were recorded in 1977 before the overdubs were done. I also included “Endless Sleep,” which Bolan performed on his 1977 TV series. I then added two tracks that are probably from 1976: “Write Me a Song” and the very similar “Sing Me a Song.” And finally, I included “Messing with the Mystic.” Although it’s a demo, the sound quality is pretty good, although not great. But I felt that title-wise it kind of matched up with "Brain Police."

So we end up with "21st Century Stance" paired with "20th Century Baby," "Billy Super Duper" matched with "Hot George," "Shy Boy" mirroring "Foxy Boy," and so on.

The result is a nice 14-track album, with Side A clocking in at just under 20 minutes and Side B at about 18½ minutes. It’s the kind of album where at first glance and listen, there is a concept, but on closer examination, there really isn’t.

Besides the 1982 Billy Super Duper, my source for these tracks was Marc Bolan & T. Rex Unchained: Unreleased Recordings 1972 -1977.

In deciding on an album title, I felt that calling it Jack Daniels would have been just asking for a lawsuit and a title his record company likely would have rejected (plus I didn't think it had anything to do with the "concept" I'm attempting). So, I went with Billy Super Duper. For cover art, I found this image online and redid the wording.

I tried to put together a YouTube playlist for this album, as I've done for other blog entries this year, but unfortunately, some songs can't be found there. Oh well.

 

George Harrison -- "Cosmic Empire"

 

I recently came upon walrusz’s YouTube channel where he’s added some new studio backing to a few demos George Harrison recorded. That led me to read up more on the 50^th anniversary of Harrison’s All Things Must Pass album where I discovered there were a number of outtakes he never officially released in his lifetime.

I’ve often thought that Harrison waited too long to record a follow-up to All Things Must Pass. Yes, it was a triple album (or a double album with an extra disc of jamming) and it was a massive success when it was released in 1970. However, his former bandmates released more albums than he did from 1970 through 1973. Paul McCartney issued five studio albums during that span and John Lennon released four. Even Ringo Starr recorded three studio albums. Meanwhile, George issued two: All Things Must Pass (1970) and Living in the Material World (1973).

Considering George supposedly had tons of songs he’d written that had been rejected by the other Beatles (namely John and Paul), one might think that he’d be keen to now get it all out there and have a follow-up album in 1971 or 1972. But in fact, he had other priorities, including legal issues, a failing marriage, the organization of the Concert for Bangla Desh and the care for his mother who was dying. 

So here's my attempt at an album that could have been.

SIDE A

1.      Cosmic Empire 

2.      Mother Divine 

3.      Window, Window 

4.      Dehra Dun 

5.      Going Down to Golders Green 

6.      Nowhere to Go 

SIDE B

1.      I Live for You

2.      Deep Blue 

3.      Tell Me What Has Happened to You 

4.      Om Hare Om (Gopala Krishna) 

5.      I Don’t Want to Do It 

There were several songs George demoed in 1970 that he later recorded for albums, and I decided not to use those.

Looking and searching, I found 11 songs that could have been used for a late 1971 or early 1972 album. I used five tracks that walrusz posted on his YouTube channel: “Cosmic Empire,” “Nowhere to Go,” “Dehra Dun,” “Mother Divine” and “Window Window.” For the latter song, I snipped off the studio chatter at the very beginning as I found it distracting. 

I also included the 2000 overdubbed version of “I Live for You” that George released with the 40^th anniversary of All Thing Must Pass, as well as the demos for “Going Down to Golders Green,” "Om Hare Om (Gopala Krishna)," “Tell Me What Has Happened to You” and “I Don’t Want to Do It” from the 50^th anniversary of the album. 

And finally, I included “Deep Blue,” the B-side of George’s 1971 “Bangla Desh” single. I thought about including “Bangla Desh” as well, but it’s very apparent that it was always meant to be a standalone single.

I especially like using the Bob Dylan-penned “I Don’t Want to Do It” to end the album with just George on vocals and guitar. The song's final line “I don't want to say goodbye” and abrupt stop seemed like a great ending, I think. George actually re-recorded the song in 1985 for the Porky’s Revenge soundtrack, and that seems like a sad result for a Dylan song that he himself never recorded. Using it here gives the song a bit more respect.

The result is what I think is a very enjoyable 11-track album. For the album cover, I found this photo of George online and added the words. I titled it Cosmic Empire after the lead-off track.

Here is a YouTube playlist of the album. Enjoy!

The Byrds - "Younger Than Yesterday" redone

I was recently inspired by the Albums That Never Were blog post, in which The Byrds’ album The Notorious Byrd Brothers was redone as if David Crosby had not been fired. I looked at the band’s previous album, Younger Than Yesterday, the first without any input from Gene Clark, and created a new version. This one includes three songs by Clark that were on his first solo album released nearly simultaneously with Younger Than Yesterday.

SIDE A

1. So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star

2. Have You Seen Her Face

3. Needing Someone

4. CTA – 102

5. Renaissance Fair

6. Time Between

7. Everybody’s Been Burned 

SIDE B

1. So You Say You Lost Your Baby 

2. Mind Gardens 

3. The Girl with No Name 

4. Tried So Hard

5. It Happens Each Day

6. My Back Pages

Without contributions from Clark, Chris Hillman stepped up with four songs, plus a co-write with Roger McGuinn. This is interesting because prior to this, no other Hillman-written songs had been recorded by the band other than one track that was a group effort.

Rather than simply inserting Clark's songs, I looked at the album overall to see if I could improve it (at least in my mind). The album as released is very short – the first side clocks in less than 14 minutes. Besides adding three Clark tunes, I also decided to jettison two other tracks to make room for them. I removed Hillman’s “Thoughts and Words” as I didn’t think it contributed much, especially as the opening track of Side B. Plus, Hillman already has four other writing credits on the album. I also removed “Why,” a song co-written by McGuinn and Crosby. This was an odd choice in the first place because the band had released a slower version of the same song as a B side to the “Eight Miles High” single the previous year.

Clark’s solo album, Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers, includes both Hillman and Michael Clarke throughout, so it actually has three “Byrds” playing on it. I included the tracks “Needing Someone,” “So You Say You Lost Your Baby” and “Tried So Hard.” The first two I added because I simply liked them the most. I included “Tried So Hard” because I saw a video on YouTube of Clark performing it in maybe the late 1970s so I figured it must have been important to him. Also, Hillman recorded it in the early 1970s with his later group The Flying Burrito Brothers, so obviously he liked the track too.

Finally, I also added one outtake from the album, Crosby’s “It Happens Each Day.” Other than the insertions and deletions, the album's tracklist remains pretty much the same, although I moved the cover of Dylan’s “My Back Pages” to the end to close out the album. Because the album title is inspired by the song, and since it was released as a single, I thought ending the album with it made sense.

The result is an album with more variety, more tracks and a longer running time (each side is just under 16 minutes). It wasn’t until after I’d figured out a tracklist I liked that I realized the songs opening both sides have the same two first words in their titles. Weird.

And now for a special treat (ha!), I went the extra mile and created a second version of the album as a double, adding in more Clark songs and outtakes (see below). Sides A-C are about 15:10 give or take a second, while the fourth side is about 20 seconds shorter. You decide what you like more: a single or double album.

For cover art, I needed a photo that included Gene Clark, making the one I chose a bit dated. But doesn't having a photo of them a year or two earlier fit in with the album's title? Hmmmm. Otherwise, I think it looks good for a simple design. I removed some background imagery and added titles.

SIDE A 

1. So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star

2. I Know My Rider (I Know You Rider) 

3. Think I'm Gonna Feel Better 

4. Time Between

5. The Same One 

6. Mind Gardens 

SIDE B 

1. So You Say You Lost Your Baby 

2. The Girl with No Name 

3. CTA-102

4. Is Yours Is Mine 

5. Everybody's Been Burned 

6. Echoes 

SIDE C 

1. Have You Seen Her Face 

2. It Happens Each Day 

3. Needing Someone

4. Don’t Make Waves 

5. I Found You 

6. Psychodrama City 

SIDE D 

1. Renaissance Fair 

2. Couldn't Believe Her

3. Why

4. Tried So Hard 

5. Thoughts and Words 

6. My Back Pages 

Here's a YouTube playlist of the double album version.

Sources: 

* Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers

* The Byrds' Younger Than Yesterday 1996 version with bonus tracks

* The Byrds box set

The Yardbirds - "Solo Flights"

 

Happy New Year!

In 1966, the Yardbirds' management encouraged band members to bring attention to the group through success in solo projects. The first to do so was singer Keith Relf, who issued two singles, although the highest they appeared on the charts was #50. 

Guitarist Jeff Beck also recorded a track, although it was nearly a year before it was issued, and by that time he was out of the group.

Jimmy Page joined the Yardbirds in June 1966. Although he didn't release a solo single as a member of the Yardbirds, Page had issued a single the previous year. 

I can find no solo recordings by other members of the group. If there were plans for recordings by Chris Dreja, Jim McCarty or even soon-to-depart Paul Samwell-Smith, they may have been canceled after Relf's dismal showing on the charts. I mean, if the lead singer can't get a hit song, how do you expect any of the other members to do so?

I wondered if I took the solo material by Relf, Beck and Page, along with an added soundtrack cut by the band from '66, we could compile a new "Yardbirds" album.

SIDE A

1. Stroll On (The Yardbirds)

2. Knowing (Keith Relf)

3. She Just Satisfies (Jimmy Page)

4. Mr. Zero (Keith Relf)

SIDE B

1. Beck's Bolero (Jeff Beck)

2. Shapes in My Mind (Keith Relf)

3. Keep Movin' (Jimmy Page) 

4. Blue Sands (credited to Keith Relf)

We start the album with "Stroll On," a song the Yardbirds recorded for the film "Blow Out," in which they appear performing the song. Although the writing of the song is credited to the Yardbirds, it's actually a re-write of "Train Kept A-Rollin'," which the band had recorded the previous year.

The next track is "Knowing," one of four songs from Relf's two solo singles. This is followed by Page's "She Just Satisfies" and Relf's "Mr. Zero" which closes the album's first side.

Side B opens with "Beck's Bolero," which is based on Maurice Ravel's "Bolero." Also featured on the song are Page, Keith Moon, John Paul Jones and Nicky Hopkins. Beck would later say that two or three other songs were recorded at the same session. Sadly, they've apparently been lost, erased or misfiled.

This is followed by tracks by Relf and Page. The last track, "Blue Sands," is an instrumental that first appeared on the B-side of Relf's second single. Although credited to Relf, apparently he doesn't appear on the song at all. It was, in fact, recorded by a British group called The Outsiders. I included it only because it had been credited to Relf, so theoretically, it would have been included in an album if one had been issued at the time.

This compilation results in a very short album, actually more likely an EP. But it is a nice way to package up some loose ends of Yardbirds-related songs. If you want to expand it a bit, there are a couple of tracks by The All-Stars featuring Jeff Beck (that also include Page) that were recorded in 1965.

Three of the Relf tracks can be found on the album All the Falling Angels - Solo Recordings & Collaborations 1965-1976. As far as I've been able to find, the song "Blue Sands" appears to only be available on the original single. "Beck's Bolero" is available on Beck's Truth album. The two Page tracks can be found on the album Session Man: Vol. 1.

For the cover, I chose a stock image of five biplanes, added the band and record company logos, and added the title.